LOS ANGELES (AP) - Frances Dee, the stunning actress who co-starred in the 1930s and 1940s with Maurice Chevalier, Gary Cooper, Ronald Colman and her husband, Joel McCrea, has died. Dee died Saturday at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Conn., where her son, Peter McCrea, lived, said family friend Andrew Wentink, who is writing a biography about Dee. The actress had been at the hospital since having a stroke three weeks ago. Her family listed Dee’s age as 94, though other sources put her age at 96.
Dee achieved stardom in 1930 opposite Chevalier in one of the first talkie musicals, “The Playboy of Paris.” Her refreshing beauty earned her leading roles in comedies and dramas, notably in the 1931 “An American Tragedy” as Sondra Finchley, the role played by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1951 remake “A Place in the Sun.” Other memorable films include “Souls at Sea” with Cooper and George Raft, “Little Women,” starring Katharine Hepburn, “If I Were King” with Colman, and “Of Human Bondage,” in which she played Leslie Howard’s sweetheart. In 1933, Dee appeared with McCrea in “The Silver Cord.” They married that year in Rye, N.Y., and they co-starred again in “Wells Fargo” (1937) and “Four Faces West” (1948). She appeared in occasional movies in the 1940s and 1950s and retired after “Gypsy Colt” in 1954.
I’m surprised the AP referred to her as “stunning.” One of her salient features was that—like Ann Harding—she was a rather pleasant-looking, unglamorous type. More girl-next-door than va-va-voom. Here are some photos.
To whip up greater SDMB interest in Dee Dee, given our ghoulish aesthetics, you guys should mention that she was the star of that great atmospheric Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur 1943 horror flick, I Walked with a Zombie.
She also made loads of money in Los Angeles real estate.
This was a hugely popular play when it premiered on Broadway around 1930, but I have NEVER seen a professional revival OR a “summer theater” production, and the film has NEVER (to the best of my knowledge) turned up in a repertory theater (in New Haven or New York) or on the tube. And according to the IMdB, it’s not available or either DVD or videotape.
I saw The Silver Chord on American Movie Classics sometime in 1990-1994. It held up well, especially Laura Hope Crew’s performance as the domineering mother.
Yeah, I read about it in Brooks Atkinson’s Broadway history The Lively Years. It sounded interesting, so I dug up a copy at the old Drama Bookshop near Times Square.
From the “Blockbuster” site–wonder why this has never been revived? It’s not like it’s not still a valid and creepy subject today:
Sidney Howard’s once-controversial play about the smothering aspects of Mother Love, The Silver Cord was filmed in 1933 with Laura Hope Crews recreating her stage role. Ms. Crews plays the outwardly selfless mother of Joel McCrea and Eric Linden; Irene Dunne and Frances Dee play the younger women in the lives of the two sons. Irene, an established physician, is quick to see that Ms. Crews’ supposed loving relationship with her sons is an obsessive power trip, and that Mother is actually an emasculating monster who can’t stand to have any other woman come between her and her offspring. Crews’ steamroller tactics lead Frances Dee to attempt suicide, which results in the breakup of her relationship with Linden. Dunne, who loves McCrea and insists he stand on his own feet, is determined that Mother will exert her insidious influence no longer. She persuades McCrea to sever the “silver cord,” leaving Crews alone with her weaker son Linden…a fate both richly deserve.